Late evening February 24 and all night February 25, 2015 have proved to be may be the best opening towards Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay I have ever experienced in Lemmenjoki. On 1560 I noted a bunch of stations emerging around 23 UTC on February 24. Argentinian LT11 R General Francisco Ramírez and Uruguayian CW51 R Maldonado, two stations typically dominating this frequency during La Plata openings, were equally strong. Some fade in and outs was provided by Brazilian R Povo Pombal. The interesing thing was that simultaneously a strong interfering howl was noted, indicating a strong carrier nearby. It took me some time to realize, after extending the frequency range of the Perseus, that there actually was a very strong peak but no audio on the split 1560.792, i.e., severely off! I followed this frequency between 23 and 2330 UTC and was lucky to observe the emergence of an SS audio that culminated in a real surprise. The station’s locutor kindly announced at 2327 UTC: “En la frequencia 1560 kilohertz, desde Vichadero, Rivera, Uruguay, transmíte CV156 R Vichadero”!
After a lot of Googling I got in touch with Mario Raúl Coitiño who confirmed my submitted mp3 audio and who has been working at the station since 1978 and is presently in charge of the program “Actualidades” aired several days a week 2130 to 2300 local time. Raúl is 58 and kindly sent me a lot of chats and a nice photo of his family. He also noted, that the station is obligated to carry their legal ID every 15 minutes because of air traffic regulations for traffic in and out of the local airport nearby! Radio Vichaderos owner and director is José Enrique Mariño. This is one of the more surprising logings I have made during the last years! If the station remains this far off 1560 it should be a fairly easy catch for the Nordic DXers during the next season.
Thanks HK and JPR for listening to my mp3!
This surprise was noted in Lemmenjoki during LEM354 in late evenings on February 24 and 26, 2015. The station appeared as the first one on 960 on February 24 with an ID “CW96 La Radio de la Família, para todo la regíón centro del país”. Some ten minutes later the dominant La Plata station Argentinian R Nacional, Mendoza occupied the frequency for several hours together with R Sao Paulo and R Difusora de Alagoas, Maceió, the Brazilians being relatively weak with heavy fadings. R Yí was probably noted for the first time in Finland this date but also logged by Jari Ruohomäki in the same QTH on March 4, 2015 (which happened to be on my 65th birthday!!). A short FB message confirmed by reception of Radio Yí yesterday.
The Uruguay station R Oriental in Montevideo is normally blocking 770 during cx towards the La Plata regi0n. During LEM354 , however, Argentinian Cooperativa together with an unidentified Brazilian (most probably R Atalaia de Sergipe) was occupying the frequency. Cooperativa was logged previously in Finland by Jari Ruohomäki in December 2012 also in Lemmenjoki. My report was confirmed via FB.
Las 40 on 1450, has been heard a handful times in the Nordic countries. Probably the first logging in Finland was made during the LEM243 expedition (JEÖ&PÄ) in February 2007. I noticed the station again during LEM354 on February 24. No sign of the channels ARG dominant R El Sol, Quilmes, BA at that time. Las 40 carried Argentinian folklore programming and the identity was nailed by the YL ID “Música Argentina, AM Las 40, Folclórica de Argentina”.
Thanks to Henrik Klemetz, I rapidly got a confirmation from Andy Peredes, owner of the FM station Radio Activa San Juan on 88.7 FM and at the same time working at Las 40. Andy tells that the station´s effective power presently is 7 kW which is one explanation that the station has been heard recently (WRTH2015 lists the power to 1/0,25 kW!). Andy also mentions, that the station started it’s transmissions on April 2, 2001 on both 140 and FM 105.1. Andy is married and has two daughters aged 10 and 4. He included some 40 pictures of the station, of the city and of his family. Muchisimas gracias por su amabilidad Andy!
Estación 15-50 was logged in Lemmenjoki last february during my LEM354 expedition. The station was heard with a pretty weak signal. After quite some listening to the recordings from February 25 I found an ID at 0301 UTC “”Desde Buenos Aires, transmíte AM 1550 Estación 15-50”. The station was carrying football programming for the local Club Atlético Huracán. Sergio Correa confirmed my submitted audio. He tells that R Urkupiña changed it’s name to Estacíón 15-50 a year ago. R Urkupiña has been reported heard once in Finland on it’s old frequency 1510 by LEM230 in late September 2006.Gracias Sergio!
R Maria Peru was heard simultaneously on 1550 and 1560 on April 27, 2015 in Sarvsalö/Borgå. Even though Bolivian Bendita Trinidad on 1540 was heard with moderate signals, the conditions this morning favored the southern parts of Perú but did not reach Bolivia (with the exception of Bendita). I anticipated, during my first check of the file, that the station on 1550 was R Independencia, Lima. After checking also 1560 I realized, that I had the same station on two neighboring frequencies. Checking the recordings carefully I found the ID “R Maria Perú” and “En Huancayo 1240 AM, en Talara 104.5 FM” What a coincidence! I received a FB message confirming my receptions of R Maria Peru on 1550 and 1560 with a notice that a letter had been sent to me my ordinary mail. On May 18 Pertti Äyräs noticed OAM7D R San Sebastian in Livitaca/Cusco on this frequency, a station that has been reported heard also in Sweden. On 1560 the new bolivian R Luz del Mundo(started officially on May 16), with it’s new transmitter and 5 kW, will make hearing R Maria here again much more difficult.
A very big surprise was found when going through files recorded on February 25, 2015 in Lemmenjoki during LEM354. On 850 a station playing Argentinian folklore was noticed fading under R Carve that was booming in with a very strong signal. Just before 05 UTC the folklore became stronger and seconds before 05 sharp Carve dived and left the frequency free for a TOH ID:”Transmíte Radio La Gauchita, desde Morón, Capital Federal de Gran Buenos Aires”! R La Gauchita is listed in WRTH2015 on 810 AM but moved to 850 during the latter half of 2015 according to Marcelo A. Cornachioni (ConexionDigital). I immediately received an email confirmation on my submitted mp3 from Carlos Pampillón, Director. Mil gracias Carlos!
1180 is usually dominated by R Mundial, Rio de Janeiro during cx towards the southern countries of South America. The other Brazilian stations listed on this frequency are more or less rare. A handful of them have, however, been heard in Finland, such as R Capital MA, R Cultura Alfenas MG and R Guaco, Todledo, PR, to mention a few.
Jari Ruhomäki was the first one in Finland to hear R Guri in 2012. My own logging of the station is from February 22, 2015 during LEM354, when Guri faded up just at the right moment from a bunch of Brazilians present, one of them R Cultura, Alfenas. A FB message confirmed my reception of R Guri.
Radio Libre was founded in 1997 and is transmitting from the city of Fernando de la Mora, a city located in the Central Department and part of the metropolitan area of Asunción. With some 160,000 inhabitants, the city is one of the most populated of the country. R Libre is mostly carrying talk programs addressing both national and international issues. R Libre 1200 AM – radio la palabra was heard on February 25, 2015 in Lemmenjoki during excellent conditions towards especially Paraguay and the neighboring northern provinces of Argentina. The station phaded up over the Brazilians R Cultura, São Paulo and R Clube, Fortaleza Heard by at least Jari Ruohomäki earlier in Finland the station confirmed my reception by FB.
Henrik Klemetz: Radio Luz del Mundo, Bolivia, 1560, new 5 kW transmitter and antenna site inaugurated May 17. Pastor Raymundo Ramos Chejo, of the Iglesia Luz del Mundo Shekiná,welcomes reports to luzdelmundo.bolivia@hotmail.com The new transmitter was actually on the air a few days prior to the official inauguration and logged by Torolf Johnsson in Sweden.
Pertti Äyräs logged the station already on May 16 in Finland. It was heard here in Borgå on June 4 with a rather nice signal.and today Pastor Raymundo Ramos Chejo confirmed my reception. Mil gracias Pastor Raymundo Ramos Chejo!
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